The author explores a close call with death, considering how this incident has affected her. Here are some of her remarks about what she set out to do in revising her essay. " I made some specific changes in my paper. In the beginning I described the setting more. I talked about the air and the snow, how it felt and what it looked like....I added how quickly we were submerged and how I got Vanessa out."

THE UNFORGETTABLE CRASH

What I am about to tell you has had a great effect on my life and has opened my eyes to things that I've never thought of before. During my freshman year of high school, I was involved in an extremely frightening and traumatic situation; I was caught in a near-death experience that in a way, helped shape me into the person I am today.

I remember it was on a weekend during the month of January. My family had planned a day to barbecue and go snowmobiling as a time to relax and escape the drama of everyday society. We had planned to go to Blue Lakes, CA, a beautiful spot in the mountains that is ideal for peace and quiet. We figured that anywhere in nature would be perfect for spending time with one another and would really allow us to focus on our family. The morning before we left Gardnerville, I was so excited that I woke up about two hours before everyone else; I couldn't wait to get my hands on my grandpa's "brand new" snowmobile. As we piled in to the car with our barbecue, food, sledding equipment, and other toys we brought along, I felt so cramped and claustrophobic that I was complaining like a three-year-old who couldn't have what she wanted. I would ask the typical questions of a child, "Are we there yet?", "My head hurts, how much longer?" I can remember I got on everyone's nerves because I was so impatient on the way to the lake. Finally we pulled up and unloaded our stuff; it felt so good to be out of the car and to stretch every part of my body. It was so wonderful to smell the fresh mountain air and tosee the deep snow glistening as I looked around the lake; chills ran through my body as the clear cold air rippled like silk on my skin.

While my mom and my grandma started to make lunch, my sister and I were the first to start up the snowmobiles and give them a run around the lake. It felt so good to glide across the snow and have the wind blowing through my hair. An overwhelming sense of freedom ran through my body making me feel as if I could go anywhere and do anything.

Later on during the day, our neighbors came up to the lake so that their eight-year-old daughter, Vanessa, could have the chance to ride a snowmobile. When they arrived, she was kind of skeptical since she had never been on one before. She was an extremely shy and young girl so it was difficult to get her to go for a ride. She looked as though she was pretty nervous; I could see the frightened expression on her face as she heard the engines racing across the lake. Finally, after she saw how much fun we were having, I convinced her to go with me. I told her that I would go slow and that if she wasn't having fun, she could get off at any time.

As we started to gain speed and pull out on to the lake, the ice broke, and our snowmobile started to sink. The front end of the machine began to plow headfirst into the thinning ice. At this moment my adrenaline was rushing and I started to panic; I couldn't believe what was happening and I had no idea of what I was supposed to do. The snowmobile was sinking quickly, and I could feel the water pulling us under. The first thing that ran through my mind was Vanessa. I just knew that if I got her out of the water, there might be a chance that I could then pull myself out. I reached behind me, grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up over my head; luckily I had gotten her out before the snowmobile had sunk completely. By the time she was out, I had no way of staying on top of the water. My clothes were weighing me down, and every time I tried to push myself up, the ice would break around me. I can remember losing all strength in my body and swallowing massive amounts of water. I kept thinking to myself, "Is this really it?", "Am I going to die?" Just as I was getting ready to give up and lose the battle, Vanessa's father came running to my rescue. I had no idea that he was even around; however, he pulled me by the arm and drug me out of the water. He then carried me over to my mom so that she could help get my clothes off. They wrapped me in blankets and put me in the car with the heater on full blast hoping that I wouldn't get hypothermia.

The next day, I was laying in bed when the doorbell rang. It was Vanessa and her family coming over to bring me a bouquet of balloons. They wanted to thank me for saving their daughters life and to let me know that I couldn't have handled the situation better.

Since that day, I have played out different scenarios in my head, and I've realized how lucky I am to be alive. I am so thankful for the life I have and for the people around me. So as the saying goes, you'll never really know how precious life is until your that close to losing it.